GUEST OPINION: Citizens or not, our neighbors

After President Obama issued his executive order last week on immigration, I found myself thinking about Gustavo Rezende.

Rick Holmes

After President Obama issued his executive order last week on immigration, I found myself thinking about Gustavo Rezende.

His parents brought Gustavo — his friends called him “Goose” — to Marlborough from Brazil when he was 9 years old. “All the time he said, ‘This is my country. I love this country,’”‘ his mother recalls.

After graduating from high school, he wanted to join the Army, but he couldn’t because he didn’t have a green card. So he worked illegally at a low-paying job and worried all the time he’d get caught and deported to Brazil, a country he could barely remember. When he got caught driving illegally — again — his worries caught up with him.

He hung himself from a tree near the Marlborough District Court. He was 19.

I’ve also been thinking about a man I know, a respected civic leader, who told me a secret a couple of years ago.

His daughter fell in love with a boy in high school, he said. Terrific kid, very smart and talented. It wasn’t until after the wedding that he learned his son-in-law had no documentation. The kid can’t work legally, can’t drive legally and worries about getting caught. He’s got no future and that hurts his wife and new baby as well, not to mention his father-in-law.

On Friday, President Obama gave that young man a future. He’ll be eligible for a work permit and a drivers license. It’s renewable every two years, as long as he doesn’t get in trouble — and unless some future president revokes the executive order.

It’s not a path to citizenship or a permanent fix, as Obama emphasized. Only Congress can do that, and Congress has been unwilling to do anything for these young all-but-on-paper Americans. Asked five times on “Face The Nation” Sunday whether he would rescind the order if elected, Mitt Romney was unable to give a straight answer.

There will be arguments about the politics and legalities involved in Obama’s action. Fine. We’ll do that.

But for now, I’m thinking about the young men and women who had no choice about how they came here. They grew up in our towns, went to our schools, played on Little League teams with our kids. Like their classmates, some made the honor roll, some the football team, some made it to church every Sunday, some didn’t. For the most part, they are hard workers, responsible family members and loyal friends.

The government estimates 800,000 children and young people qualify for Obama’s exemption. They certainly number in the thousands here in Massachusetts — and every one of them is connected to countless friends, co-workers and relatives who would be sad to see them sent into exile. More than 1,000 people came to Goose Rezende’s wake, and I bet most of them were perfectly legal.

Citizens or not, these young people are our neighbors. We should be happy at this good thing that has happened for them.

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